Indians Say They're Still Under Attack

March 20, 2001 -- Would you buy Martin Luther King Malt Liquor, go to the Mahatma Gandhi Strip Club or wear Jesus Christ Jeans?

If any of these make you uncomfortable, you might have an inkling of how Lakota Sioux, and American-Indians in general, respond to the use of the name Crazy Horse to market everything from jeans to strip clubs.

American-Indian activists see a connection between the use of the name of a man considered a spiritual leader and the acceptance of Indian-related nicknames and mascots for sports teams, which they say range from the simply demeaning to the sacrilegious and together keep American-Indians from being considered on a level with other ethnic groups.

"[The use of such images] reinforces all of the stereotypical conceptions of native people so prevalent in the American consciousness, effectively reducing the fullness of our humanity to a unidimensional farce," Joe Gone, a psychologist and member of the Gros Ventre tribe said in an interview with the American Psychological Association Monitor.

The fact that these mascots and advertising images exist, according to Gary Brouse of the Interfaith Council on Corporate Responsibility, is evidence that American-Indians have been left out of the mix as America has become more conscious of the rights of minorities.

Problems of Perception

A figure of a black, a Jew or Latino comparable to the Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo mascot would not be tolerated by society, just as the use of the name of a person of another race who was as revered as Crazy Horse is by American-Indians to advertise an alcoholic beverage or strip club would be met by outrage, Brouse said.

"Crazy Horse was a very sacred leader," he said. "He is mostly known in non-Indian Country as a military leader. In Indian Country, he is a religious leader."

Though associating the name with a clothing line, as Liz Claiborne Inc. does with its Crazy Horse brand, would seem less offensive to Indians than some of the other ways it has been used, the company's ads featuring skinny models casting languid looks at the camera are hardly harmonious with what Crazy Horse represents to Indians.